Emiel Brok, SUSE
For over 20 years Emiel has been at the forefront of the open source revolution. Emiel combines corporate leadership with deep advocacy for digital rights. Currently driving strategy at SUSE, he is also a Co-founder and Board Member of DOSBA and serves on the board of APELL.
Emiel views the open source way of life as a blueprint for society prioritizing collaboration, transparency, and digital sovereignty. An experienced and dynamic speaker, he is known for skipping the standard lecture format in favor of engaging directly with his audience, turning every keynote into a two-way dialogue on the future of technology and policy.
Sessions
As the EU accelerates its push for strategic autonomy, the EU Cloud Sovereignty Framework (v1.2.1, Oct 2025) has emerged as the definitive standard for digital services. But what does "sovereignty" actually mean in a technical and legal audit? This session explores the framework’s core components—the 8 Sovereignty Objectives (SOVs) and the 5 SEAL levels—to demonstrate why Open Source is not just a preference, but a mandatory foundation for reaching the highest levels of digital resilience and EU compliance.
The open debate will be moderated by Emiel Brok, Sovereignty Ambassador, SUSE / DOSBA.
In this interactive session we want to look beyond the sovereignty buzz and better understand the articulation between open source, digital sovereignty and technical independence. We will explore open source as a path to digital freedom, and how resilience influences technological choices. Does open source systematically allow independence ? What about reversibility issues, disaster and shutdown recovery? Is technology independence now a driver for strategic choices?